Printing for an election campaign can be tricky – not only are you working to a tight budget, but sending out direct mail campaigns to multiple addresses and keeping messaging consistent with both your digital efforts and the wider party means juggling a lot of priorities. Not to mention that the most recent local election happened amidst a global pandemic, which led to restrictions for door-to-door campaigns, too!
As a print account manager for the Ashford Green party, my main aim was to take away as much of the pressure for local MP Mandy Rossi as I could. And we couldn’t have wished for a better result for her – as she won her seat for the Green party in Kent. What’s even more amazing is that her area swung from a mix of red and blue to fully blue, with the exception of her green seat.
Following this incredible result, I got in touch with Mandy to discover how she’d pipped competitors to the post on polling day and the role print had to play in her success.
1. Congratulations on your win! Tell us about your party – what do you hope to achieve following the local elections?
Thank you! We’re the Ashford, Kent branch of The Green Party. In 2019, we achieved our first election success with two Councillors elected to Ashford Borough Council. This year, we got our first Councillor onto Kent County Council. Two big breakthroughs for us.
We’re now working on our 2023 strategy which is the next batch of local elections where we aim to defend our two seats, and get at least two more. We also hope that our election success attracts more active members to our local party.
2. Which print products did you find the most useful for reaching out to voters?
We use a variety of leaflets from a standard A4 newsletter style, printed on both sides, a C-fold election address, A5 leaflets, square-cut leaflets and postcards. We hand deliver everything, so personally, I have to say the postcards are generally the easiest to get through letterboxes!
3. What’s the main benefit of working with a dedicated instantprint account manager?
Paul has been great. During the year we normally just do standard web orders, but at election time we need different quantities and shapes and sizes. Paul is always very responsive and enables us to turn around our order very quickly, which is one of our priorities at election time.
4. What other strategies did you use to complement your print?
We ran a social media campaign on Facebook and Instagram – a combination of daily graphics, targeted ads and video. Due to ongoing restrictions with the Covid situation we were unable to do as much door-knocking as we’d usually do, which meant that our print and social media was even more important this time around.
5. Which of our account management services did you use?
Bespoke quantities: that’s probably the key one for us. We don’t want waste, so it was really useful to be able to order the exact number of leaflets we need for each campaign.
6. What’s your top tip for creating effective print for an election campaign?
As a local party, we’re really lucky in that one of our members is a graphic designer. I know that with his design skills and the quality of print products from instantprint, our campaign material will stand out. My top tip is to have a plan in place with your key messages, then get the design signed off early on so that you can concentrate on other elements of the campaign. Oh, and get several people to proofread before going to print!
If you’re interested in setting up a free account with my team to help manage your political print, fill out this form and we’ll be in touch shortly or give us a call on 0191 685 0125 to talk to us directly.
